Syria: No peace talks until Israel halts settlement activity

Syrian President Bashar Assad said on Tuesday that Israel must halt activity in West Bank settlements before Damascus considers renewing peace negotiations.

Assad told visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier there is no real partner in Israel to make peace, repeating remarks he made last week.

Syria has said it is willing to resume indirect peace talks mediated by Turkey as long as they focus on a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.

Steinmeier, meanwhile, declared during the meeting that regional entities must not waste in laying the groundwork for Middle East peace, adding that none of the sides involved could afford to push off the process of negotiations for another year.

After meeting Monday with Assad and Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, Steinmeir called on the leadership in Damascus to do everything in its power to ensure a quick peace process.

Efforts must be made to "keep the region's destructive might must be kept to a minimum," he told the Syrian leaders, referring by name to Hezbollah, a Lebanese-based organization that draws support from Syria, as well as the radical Islamist Palestinian Hamas movement.

During a bilateral meeting with Assad, the two leaders were unable to come to agreement about the possibility of the resumption of Israeli-Syrian contacts. Those were suspended after Israel's military assault on the Gaza Strip earlier this year.

Steinmeier said he has doubts whether a Turkish mediator could make any advances in this area.

Moallem said there was only a limited window of opportunity to achieve Middle East peace and said Israel was wasting time. At the same time, he said Syria would not give up its claim to the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.

President Simon Peres told Steinmeier on Sunday that Assad must understand that Israel would not hand the Heights over to Syria on a "silver platter."

In response, Moallem told his German counterpart that Syria did not want the Golan on a silver platter, but on gold.

Steinmeier also visited Lebanon on Tuesday, where he is supposed to meet with prime minister-designate Saad Hariri.